the Bio chemistry is palpable
by LivingLucely
Summary: AU- Bo and Lauren are students at a non descript American university. A chance tutoring session brings them together, but the Olympics could tear them apart.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was already 2:30pm. She knew that this was going to be an absolute waste of time, but she had no choice. Sure, her scholarships covered almost all tuition and room and board, but as part of the whole financial aid package she had to do work study. What she couldn't figure out was how she managed to get work study in the athletic department. And to add absolute insult to injury, one of the athletic directors pulled her file and found out she was a BioChem major. Ok, so to be fair, she wasn't just a BioChem major, she came into freshman year with several summers of experience in the BioChem lab and managed to get her name on a few of the most recently published papers. So it made sense that the AD talked to the work study program and managed to get Lauren to sign on to tutoring one of their star athletes for 2 hours a week. Although she had her reservations, 2 hours of tutoring was better than 10 hours a week of paper pushing, so she agreed.

Apparently she was going to have her hands full with her tutee this year. From the brief email she received, she would be tutoring the number one fencer on the nationally ranked fencing team. Surprised that the athletic department had any investment in fencing whatsoever, she googled the star sabre's name. Her name was Isabeau Dennis and the internet was buzzing about her gold medal potential.

The thought of knowing someone who won a gold medal was kind of exciting. But that excitement waned with every minute that Isabeau was late to their first tutoring session. Having a thousand other things to worry about, Lauren figured she would give Isabeau 10 more minutes, and then she would call it a day.

"Well, this was a the biggest waste of my time," Lauren said aloud to no one in particular, especially no Isabeau because she still hadn't arrived yet.

Thoroughly annoyed, but not entirely surprised that this dumb jock couldn't make it to a tutoring session on time, Lauren gathered her stuff in her arms and stood up to leave. As she turned to leave the library and get some more lab time in, she managed to run into another student who was clearly in a rush.

"Oh god. I am so sorry, I am super late for tutoring and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," said Lauren's unknown assailant and she bent down to help Lauren pick up her notebooks that now littered the floor.

"Don't worry about it," Lauren said with an audible level of annoyance. She wasted an hour and now got knocked on her ass. This would be the first time that happened today, at least in the literal sense.

"Here, let me help you grab your stuff," the woman plead with Lauren.

"I thought you said you were late for something. Maybe you should just go," Lauren said with more hostility than she meant. It just figured that in an attempt to help Lauren, this other woman made Lauren fumble the notebooks that she hadn't managed to drop before.

"Aw, it's no big deal. I am so late anyway, I figure my BioChem tutor is long gone," the stranger smirked as she grabbed Lauren's remaining notebook.

"Hmm, that would make you Isabeau. And don't worry, your BioChem tutor was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and only decided to leave a few minutes ago," Lauren said as she lifted her eyes to finally make eye contact with Isabeau.

"Really? She just left? Dammit. Wait, so you know her? Do you have her email or cell phone so I can call and apologize? And totally reschedule because I can't afford to fail another test or I can't compete this weekend," Isabeau asked meeting eyes with Lauren.

"No need to call or email, let's just get a table and get to work. I really need to get back to the lab to set up my samples," said Lauren, the irritation fleeting from her voice as she looked at Isabeau up close and personal. Her college profile didn't do her justice, she was gorgeous. She body was incredibly lean, but extremely muscular. After running into her and nearly bouncing back off, Lauren could feel the sinewy muscles that belied her sweatshirt and matching sweatpants. But far more impressive than her athletic frame, Lauren was completely awestruck by how entrancing her eyes were. She had never seen anyone with blue flecks in brown eyes. These eyes clearly had to be strange genetic mutation because the dominant brown eye gene would easily mask the recessive blue eye gene, but standing right in front of her was a clear co-expression. And this co-expression was probably the most beautiful feature she had ever seen.

"Hey, are you okay? Better yet, am I okay? Do I have something on my face?" asked Isabeau, feeling a little self-conscious that Lauren was staring, even though she couldn't deny enjoying the attention.

"Huh?" Lauren said, not registering what Isabeau had asked, but feeling like whatever it was required some sort of response.

"Is there something on my face?" Isabeau asked again.

"Heterochromia," Lauren said absentmindedly.

"Hetero….what? I mean yeah, definitely hetero. It's not like I play softball or anything, but," Isabeau quickly spouted out, feeling a little uncomfortable by Lauren's accusation.

"Isabeau, no. Not heterosexual. Well, I don't know that at all, and regardless that isn't something for me to comment on or judge about, so don't worry," Lauren could feel herself starting to ramble, but couldn't help it. "I mean, heterosexuality affects approximately 90% of the population in the human species, and is thought to express equal rates in other species well, or at least species whose sexual reproduction creates genetic diversity," Lauren could feel her geek starting to shine through and needed to reign in her rambling before she made a further ass of herself in front of this girl. This really beautiful girl.

"Anyway, that is completely irrelevant to heterochromia, except for the prefix of the term, which means different. As in the color or chromia of your eyes is somewhat different. Your eyes don't match and express both dominant and recessive genes at different rates." Finally, her nerding was reaching its end.

"So what are the rates of heterochromia in people?" Isabeau asked with genuine interest.

Completely shocked that her audience was actually captive at this point, Lauren was speechless. "What?" was all she could manage to say.

"Was that not right? Clearly I am in more need of BioChem help than I realized because we haven't even started talking about this stuff. But, I was wondering how common is it to see people with different colored eyes?" Bo mumbled as she rubbed the back of her neck. Her face was starting to turn red with embarrassment that her tutor had her work cut out for her.

"Oh, this isn't really BioChem. Actually, I worked at a lab this summer and got chance to meet some really fascinating geneticists." Afraid she was going to start nerding out again, Lauren hastily said, "200,000 at least in the US. To answer your question, Isabeau."

"Bo."

Lauren gave her a quizzical look.

"My name is Isabeau, but so is my grandmother's name, so growing up, everyone called me Bo."

"Oh," said replied. "Like Gilmore Girls."

Bo laughed out loud at this outdated pop culture reference, and Lauren couldn't help but offer a chuckle as well.

Bo and Lauren stood just outside the library for a few more minutes before Lauren offered to sit and review the most recent BioChem notes Bo needed. As they moved to sit at a table, Lauren was warming up to the idea that she would be spending several hours a week with this Bo person.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

It had been four weeks of intensive studying to catch Bo up to speed with the lectures she had been missing because of team training and travel. After figuring out that it would be easier to meet at Lauren's lab desk for study sessions because it was just a few buildings down from the fencing center, tutoring had been going pretty well. Bo was an incredibly attentive student. It was apparent that Bo was taking BioChem because of a genuine interest, rather than a science requirement. This made tutoring that much easier because BioChem, even as an introductory class, was not going to be a walk in the park for anyone. And the fact that Lauren's lecture reviews would trigger unintentional tangents about amino acid structures and the possibilities for more complex synthetic proteins hardly distracted Bo. Quite the opposite, Bo would sit at Lauren's desk with her chin resting on her hands and watch as Lauren's face lit up with excitement. Bo had a hard time covering up the smile that would inch its way across her lips when Lauren was in full geek mode.

To her credit, Lauren tried to contain her nerd facts and made an effort to engage Bo in a meaningful dialogue about the subject matter. And when sessions were going well, she would make sure to ask some questions about Bo's latest sabre success.

Whenever Lauren inquired about fencing, Bo would always offer up a one or two sentence summary of opponent or her latest gnarly bruise. So far Lauren had learned that sabre was probably the most painful of swords because points were awarded if an opponent struck you with the blade, rather than the point. Also, the contact had to be above the waste, so when Bo would come to tutoring and remove her jacket, Lauren reminded herself that these were casualties of war. Beyond the basics, Bo didn't offer much more about fencing. When general conversation seemed to be heading in the direction of more in depth info, Bo would quickly redirect the conversation toward peptides or proteins and sit back as Lauren ran with it.

This avoidance did not go unnoticed by Lauren in any capacity. But, rather than push Bo into a deeper conversation, Lauren would recognize the redirection cues and indulge Bo's nonverbal pleas. After all, Lauren and Bo were just here for tutoring. And once Bo's grades were good enough to guarantee her eligibility for the year, Lauren wouldn't even really need to tutor her, or worry about Bo's bruises healing properly.

After finishing up classes for the day, and clearing her afternoon so that she could delve into a pretty complex research assignment in the lab, Lauren settled into her desk. Her primary goal for the day was to dye and label all her slides, record the results of the structural integrity of each amino acid and then bisect the tumors she was using for the next phase in her study. If she worked non-stop, she would manage all but the bisection before the lab closed today.

As Lauren sat at her desk collecting dyed slides and labeling them, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she let a high pitched squeal, nearly dropping and shattering her latest slide.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't want to scare you, so I figured I would tap you as a warning. Too bad that was an epic fail," came a familiar voice in the sound of a whisper. Feeling a little embarrassed by her awkward intrusion, Bo took a quick step away from Lauren and all the expensive equipment on her desk.

Having quickly spun around in her seat at the sound of Bo's voice, Lauren's face shown a mixture of concern and excitement. "What…what brings you here? Lectures are cancelled this week for the holiday," Lauren stammered.

"Oh, yeah I know. I just wanted to show you this." Bo beamed as she unfolded her most recent BioChem test for Lauren to see.

All look off concern gone, Lauren's face glowed with genuine excitement. Bo had managed to get an 85%. Realizing that this grade would secure Bo's eligibility for the remainder of the season, Lauren jumped from her seat and threw her arms around Bo's neck.

"That is outstanding. Congrats, you and your teammates should totally go out and celebrate," Lauren said, quickly releasing Bo from her impulsive embrace.

"Well, that brings me to reason number 2 why I came by. So my roommate Kenzi is nursing a wicked hangout and is out of commission for the night, and my teammates are great, but not really the ones I like celebrating with on the weekends. So I was wondering if you wanted to get a drink with me at this awesome dive bar just off campus."

Flattered that Bo wanted to celebrate this success with her, but still having a lot of work to get done, Lauren mulled over the idea for a brief second. She had just gotten to the lab and really needed to get the slides labeled first off. As she was about to thank Bo for the invitation, Bo interjected, "the holiday weekend means that all campus buildings close early, including all labs. And since the lab manager assured me that you have been working in here for the past 6 hours, and she was going to be kicking you out in the next 30 minutes, I don't really know what excuses you have left. Please," Bo said as she took a step toward Lauren with a twinkle in her eye.

Lauren paused, "Six hours? That can't be right. Classes ended at 2. What time is it?"

"Correction, you have been in here six and a half hours," Bo smirked. "So, now I am not taking no for an answer. You haven't eaten anything all day, I am taking you to dinner and we are celebrating."

"That hardly seems like a way to celebrate," Lauren chided. "You are being celebrated, so how about dinner is on me." A subtle smile shown across Lauren's thin lips as she stood only a few inches from Bo's face.

Bo gave Lauren a gentle nudge with her shoulder and accepted the offer. "Ok, doc, but you realize that I spend about 4 hours in the gym every day, so I am not a cheap dinner date. Or, well, you know what I mean."

Bo wasn't like any other athlete Lauren had ever met. She was beautiful, thoughtful and so completely genuine. As Lauren's mind raced, her eyes stared at Bo's lips and then made their way briefly to her eyes before looking away. Though impossible, Lauren made a valiant effort to try and hide the growing smile on her face.

As Lauren looked away, Bo, having caught her staring at her lips and eyes broke the tension growing between the two of them and said, "What? Is my heterochromia showing again?"

Lauren laughed and nudged Bo's upper arm with her elbow. "I thought I told you to get that fixed," Lauren joked back.

"How else would I have gotten you to forgive me for being so late?" Bo answered with a hint of a flirtatious tone.

Feeling her face turn a slight shade of red, Lauren quickly reached to grab her slides. "Give me a minute to pack up and grab my stuff," she offered to Bo.

"I bet we could get some free drinks if you wore that lab coat," Bo joked as Lauren walked to the storage closet to return her slides.

"Yeah, but you have no idea how many other awkward propositions are made when a lab coat is mixed with drunk frat boys and bars," Lauren offered back as she made her way back to her desk and, taking her coat off, draped it over her chair.

"Fair enough, but for the record, I could totally take those guys. Nothing says defender of honor more than a sabre and fencing mask," Bo said as a sly smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

Lauren gave her a quick smile and grabbed her bag as she led them out of the lab.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

After taking a series of campus and community buses, Lauren indicated to Lauren that there stop was next. This seemed more than peculiar because as far as Lauren could tell, their next stop had to be the middle of nowhere. The stoplights and exhaust fumes had long since given way to stop signs and one lane traffic. Lauren wasn't sure if her low blood sugar was causing delusions or if the bus actually waited for a horse and buggy to cross the street. And, now standing in front of a place called the Dal, Lauren was sure the buggy crossing happened. It made perfect sense to her, unlike Bo's description of the Dal as a "dive bar." That was a complete misnomer, the Dal was many things, the first being a converted barn, but it definitely was no dive bar. And as they walked in, Lauren could tell that the place had character, and a motif that spoke more to a 19th century saloon. It was well maintained and obviously a popular place for the locals, both aligned and unaligned with the university.

Watching as Lauren looked the place up and down, and figuring she was probably out of her comfort zone, Bo grabbed Lauren's hand and guided her through the surprisingly dense crowd of holiday patrons. Thankful for Bo's help in navigating the crowd, but completely unprepared for butterflies that sent shivers up her spine and left her utterly dumbfounded, Lauren held on tight and gave herself over to Bo's confident guidance. Never had much physical contact with Bo, save the one time they ran into each other, Lauren could feel lightheadedness setting in just behind her eyes. Little did Lauren or Bo know that this simple gesture provided simultaneous support and instability. They had a working relationship; tutor and tutee. Anything else would have interfered with that relationship as well as fencing and lab work.

Glad that Bo as facing the bar and not in a position to see Lauren's internal dialogue wash over her face, Lauren gave her head a shake and quickly dismissed these physical responses as an adverse reaction to the smoky, stale air of the Dal. The fact that this was the first time Lauren really did anything social with another person had to have also been a contributing factor, hadn't it.

As Lauren's mind started to pick up speed and get carried away, her thoughts were interrupted by Bo's rather harsh tone. "Hey old man," Bo shouted to the bartender. " Two beers and the back table. And hurry up. Last time I was here, I waited until I was as old as you to get a drink."

Thankful that Bo's complete lack of respect for the bartender did wonders to dispel the butterflies, Lauren was a mixture of shock and disappointment. Maybe Lauren didn't know Bo than well after all. Maybe Bo's demeanor on campus was all an act and now her true colors were bright and clear. Feeling completely disenchanted with Bo's disrespect, Lauren quickly let go of her hand.

Bo, noticing Lauren's change in physical proximity, smirked and gave the bartender a wink as he approached.

"Listen, I don't know who you are calling 'old man,' punk, but clearly you're in need of some manners. Or maybe you got the commonsense knocked out of in your last fencing match," the bartender spat back at her and pointed to her fencing jacket. "Find a civil tongue or another bar."

Lauren was quite impressed with the bartender. He was a short, older man who, despite his stature, commanded a profound level of respect. It was nice to see Bo knocked down a few pegs by this guy. But, at the same time, regardless of how the bartender responded, he didn't deserve to be spoken to like that. And after hearing how rude Bo was, Lauren figured she wouldn't be so considerate as to apologize now, so inching closer to the bar and the bartender, Lauren offered and apology in Bo's defense. "Excuse me, sir. Please forgive her. I don't think she had any true intention of being so…"

Before Lauren could finish, Bo interrupted, "Listen, two beers and the back table and I won't tell mom you skipped out on the family dinner a few weeks ago to go flyfishing, old man."

With a look of guilt on his face, the bartender's leaned in and lowered his voice. "Seriously, Bo. We had a deal. I keep my daughter updated on your tamer school antics, if you do the same for me."

With both relief and embarrassment reddening her cheeks, Lauren lowered her head in the hopes that her hair would shield her. Clearly these two weren't mere strangers. And even better, Bo wasn't an absolute meathead jock. Lauren was immediately regretting letting go of Bo's hand.

"Only joking, grandpa. Promise," Bo leaned in as she patted the old man's shoulder with her now free hand. After getting an affirmative smile from her grandpa, Bo angled her head to look at Lauren and gave her a smug wink.

"This is my tutor, Lauren. I wanted to bring her by to celebrate my eligibility this semester," Bo said turning back to the bartender.

"Ah, Lauren. I'm Trick. I have heard a great deal about you. Let me be the first to say thanks for getting my granddaughter to take school seriously. She has tremendous potential, but struggles to realize it," Trick said as she extended his hand across the bar to shake with Lauren.

It was Bo's turn to blush.

"It is very nice to meet you, too. Bo has been doing really well this semester and it has been a pleasure," Lauren offered as she smiled back and shook Trick's hand.

"Well, since Bo isn't one to bring people around the bar all that much, she must really like you…or um, appreciate you," Trick stuttered after catching the glare that Bo shot him.

"Why don't you to head to the back table and I will send around some food and drinks," Trick said as he motioned for the waitress to escort them back to the private semi-circular booth in the corner of the bar.

Both women took their seats in the booth and sat quietly for a few minutes until the waitress showed up with two beers and a plate full of French fries.

"Hey can I.." Bo began before the waitress gave her a wink and pulled out a bottle of hot sauce.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I still know how you like it," the waitress said in a clearly flirtatious voice, just loud enough for Lauren and Bo to hear.

Figuring out pretty quickly that Bo was more than familiar with the waitress, too, Lauren figured it was her turn to joke around. It seemed only fair after the bartender ruse.

"Well, that's hot," Lauren mused out loud looking the direction the waitress just walked off toward.

"What? Well, it was kind of hot," Bo said to no one in particular before looking at Lauren. Realizing that her response probably wasn't the best one to share at this point, Bo tried to cover up after herself. "That was Anya. We go way back. I mean…" Bo paused. It was clear this wasn't going in her favor anymore. She had just told Lauren about her _history_ with Anya and now she was just going to lodge her foot even farther into her mouth if she didn't stop talking.

After taking a big swig from her beer, Bo took a deep breath and tried to salvage Lauren's image of her. "Well, we grew up together and have been close friends, but when we dated it wasn't any big deal. I mean, it was a big deal like relationships should be, but nothing special. No, not that she wasn't special, but not." Seriously, why couldn't she stop talking? Usually Bo was a pretty great conversationalist, but now she was a trainwreck on two legs and with a huge mouth. Even her attempts to clarify were causing way more problems than they were solving. And of all people, it had to happen in front of Lauren.

"For the love of god," Bo breathed out as she slumped back against the booth headrest. "I can't catch a break. I say one thing and it makes me sound like I sleep around, and when I try and fix that, I just sound like an ass."

Feeling like her fun was over for now since Bo seemed upset, Lauren leaned forward and slightly nodded toward the bottle on the edge of the table before saying, "I meant the hot sauce. That particular brand is actually hotter than others."

Now if was Bo's turn to let relief and embarrassment redden her cheeks. She took a drink of her beer and gave a little chuckle. Bo as to admit that Lauren's joke was pretty good. It was also nice to know that Lauren didn't seem to mind Bo's unintended disclosure of her escapades.

Feeling rather proud of herself and her ability to unnerve Bo, Lauren reached for a handful of fries, and placed all but one in her mouth. With a sly smile, she threw the remaining fry at Bo, who, while caught off guard, managed to recover and catch it in her hand before placing it victoriously in her mouth.

They both had to admit that they really enjoyed this time together. It was nice to be away from school and just have some time to hang out together. Who knows, maybe hanging out together would make their tutoring sessions more effective. But not really ready to think about tutoring, the two women directed their attention to the fries and beers that were going virtually untouched.

After dispensing of the plate of fries in under 2 minutes and their beers shortly after, Lauren decided to break the ice and get to know a bit more about Bo.

"So, you said you weren't really into your teammates. Is everything ok?" Lauren offered as a conversation starter.

"Yeah, everything is fine. It's just that I don't really have much in common with them outside of fencing," Bo said, fidgeting with the burnt fry remnants on the plate.

"Really? That's interesting. I guess I assumed that fencing was enough common ground for you all. I can't imagine you all having much free time for other pursuits given how far you have come. I mean, commuting to train 2 hours outside of Toronto every day to the gym requires a massive amount of commitment, and seemingly, no time for," Lauren stopped abruptly midsentence. Bo had never told her about her training schedule, and since Lauren couldn't keep her stupid mouth shut, Bo now knew that Lauren had spent some time and energy on Bo. Vowing to stop talking for the rest of the evening before she really did something crazy, Lauren sat picking at the label on her beer bottle.

At the mention of her training schedule, Bo eyes shot up from the fry plate and locked with Lauren's for a split second before Lauren looked away. Bo couldn't help but smile at the thought that Lauren had clearly checked her out…on the internet. It was also pretty flattering because Lauren had to do some serious digging to find out about Bo's pre-university life.

A third and fourth round of beers, fries, cheese sticks and atomic chicken wings made their way out to the table. Focusing their attention more on the food instead of embarrassing themselves further, Bo and Lauren slipped into a pretty easy conversation pattern. In between bites, Lauren shared interesting science facts about the genetic connection between finding cilantro tasty vs soapy and favoring dark chocolate. And to help give Lauren's brain a break, Bo would talk about the latest tricks they played on the unsuspecting first year fencers. The evening progresses much smoother, as did Bo's proximity to Lauren as they both laughed and inhaled the food that didn't come from the dining hall, or follow a stupid training regimen.

When a natural break in the conversation arose, Bo took on a more serious tone. "So, you asked me earlier about my training and why I didn't have other interests. You were spot on, I didn't have the time," Bo offered up with a glint of sadness in her tone. "And as I look back, it kinda sucks. I mean, I didn't get a chance to explore much else, aside from the literal broad side of a sword. And recently I have been wondering if there is anything else to me aside from fencing. I guess what I am trying to say it- you ever feel like you were so busy being everyone else's version of you that you are almost too afraid to try and be your own version of you?" Bo shook her head dismissively at herself. She couldn't figure out if it was the alcohol and food, or being with Lauren that caused her filters to disappear. She sighed with relief at her own candor and sat quietly toying with the half empty beer bottle in her hand.

Lauren could feel Bo's unease. The barrier that Bo put between her and the rest of the world was feeling precariously thin at the moment and Lauren wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around her let her know that she was an amazing person with or without fencing. Thank goodness Lauren wasn't too affected by the alcohol she consumed and resisted that urge. This was her tutee and nothing more.

But, even though she couldn't hold Bo, Lauren could at least break the ense silence. " I had no idea. And knowing that you keep them at a distance makes me feel really sad for them." She paused briefly as Bo's eyes shifted from the now empty bottle to Lauren. She removed the bottle from Bo's hands and tenderly held them in her own. With a gentle, affirming smile Lauren continued. "It sucks that people are stuck just seeing you as the star athlete because if they could get beyond it I am pretty the brilliant, funny, genuine supernova waiting to surface would blow their minds." Lauren gently caressed Bo's hands with her thumbs, before pulling them away. It was now her turn to feel a bit self-conscious that she might have shared too much of herself, and now took her turn at toying with her empty beer bottle.

Sensing movement next to her, Lauren's eyes remaining intently focused on the bottle, until her felt a hand softly caress her cheek. Afraid that making eye contact may betray her feelings, Lauren closed her eyes and leaned into the Bo's hand on her cheek. Responding to the slight pressure on her jawline, Lauren felt herself leaning in as Bo's warm touch urged her face closer. With eyes still closed she could feel Bo's warm breath inches from her lips. As Lauren's lips unconcsciously parted, a familiar voice interrupted them.

"Listen, kids. We need to close up shop, and I need to clean my station before Trick lets me out, so if you could move your love fest to the back study, I would totally appreciate," Anya said somewhat tersely.

Completely caught off guard and extremely embarrassed, Lauren pulled away from Bo and sat upright. In the most nonchalant voice she could muster, she thanked Anya and asked for the tab.

"Well, that's a new thing," she said looking at Bo. "Some chick is finally romancing you for once. Doesn't Hotpants know that we don't accept gold medals in payment?" Anya smirked as she walked back to the bar to grab the cleaning rag.

"Don't mind her," Bo said annoyed at Anya's intrusion.

"No worries. It is obviously getting late, so I had better get back," Lauren said as she started collecting her bag and jacket. "Thanks for inviting me out tonight. I had a great time. And congrats on your Biochem. We should talk about your tutoring schedule soon" Lauren gave Bo a quick smile before getting up from the booth and making her way to the door.

"Lauren, wait," Bo called out, but to no avail. Lauren had already made her way to the door and was rushing out into the cool night air.

"God," she thought to herself. "What am I doing?" Lauren almost couldn't believe what was happening. She was Bo's science tutor, definitely not some dimwit who only dated star athletes. Lauren had always been a person that valued substance, in her work, in relationships, in everything, so what all the sudden changed in her that she almost kissed Bo?

Noticing that there were a few cabs parked in the Dal's parking lot, Lauren quickly approached one, knocked on the window and asked for a ride back to campus. The driver folded up the newspaper, gave a nod to the back seat and turned on the meter. The only thing faster than the cabdriver was Lauren's mind as it raced through the events of the evening. _Bo was a nice person. She beautiful and funny and had a body that could only improve with the removal of her trademark fencing pants and sweatshirt_. Lauren gave her head a quick shake. Thoughts like those were inappropriate right now. What was appropriate was for Lauren to keep telling herself that Bo was a jock. _And not just a jock, the quintessential jock. This wasn't someone she could ever really see herself with, right_. As she mulled over the idea of ever being more than Bo's tutor, she was pulled from her inner conflict by the cabdriver's voice letting her know they had arrived. She reached in her pocket and paid, then hurriedly got out and headed into her dorm.

After getting to her room and peeling off her jacket, Lauren took a seat at her desk and stared out her windows. She sat for a moment and again replayed the events of the evening over in her head. Bo wanted to celebrate her success and Lauren was happy to get out, too. Things only got awkward after the beers and food and then she hurriedly left. That was it. As is true in most college experiences, the alcohol they were drinking had to have catalyzed their uncharacteristic behavior. And though she hated to admit it, alcohol or not she was still responsible for getting too caught up in Bo. Lauren was her tutor, and had to do it to guarantee her financial aid. This was a job, not a hobby or a favor. And more importantly, Lauren needed to remind herself that she needed to act more professionally going forward. She couldn't 'hang out' with Bo anymore, and she damn sure couldn't almost kiss Bo. What would happen if things got weird and Bo didn't show up, or worse, requested a new tutor. Lauren would be back in the main office pushing papers for 10 hours a week. She only spent 4 hours tutoring now, and she got to do it close to her lab.

Rationalizing that it made no sense to ruin their current dynamics, Lauren resolved to talk to Bo in the coming weeks and apologize for overstepping her bounds as a tutor. And with that she crawled into her bed, fully clothed and quickly fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

It had been a month since Bo's celebration at the Dal. The athletic director had sent Lauren an email shortly after he received news of Bo's guaranteed eligibility letting her know that the fencing team was competing in several consecutive intercollegiate tournaments and would be spending the next month traveling. To help the team, the department had arranged for 3 traveling tutors to make sure all of the athletes, especially Bo, didn't fall too far behind. He informed Lauren that after the tournament ended, she would return to her tutoring schedule. Apparently Bo was concerned about her GPA and needed a better grade in BioChem and specifically requested Lauren because of the progress they had already made.

Feeling slightly disappointed that she wouldn't see Bo for a month, but secretly flattered that Bo had requested her for continued tutoring, Lauren threw herself headlong into her lab work. So far, the month of nonstop lab work had proved very beneficial to Lauren's research and future career. She was recently selected to work alongside the university's only female BioChem professor emeritus on her newest research project. Lauren was floored that Amelia, as she wished to be called, specially requested her. As the lab manager put it, Amelia "sees a bit of herself in you" and wanted Lauren onboard.

Working with Amelia was everything Lauren anticipated it would be. Challenging. Rigorous. Inspiring. Life-changing. Therapeutic. Once they sat down to discuss the research project Lauren would be assisting with, she was so distracted that she barely thought about her last evening with Bo.

Sadly, that blissful immersion ended as Lauren returned to her dorm room after a particularly long day at the lab. Midterms were quickly approaching and Lauren knew that she couldn't spend all her time in the lab and at some point would have to study for her other classes. Finding a nature stopping point in her data collection, she gathered her coat and bag, and headed out for the evening. As she reached the front doors, her stomach made a pretty loud declaration of war against the rest of her body if it didn't get something to eat soon.

Knowing that it was too late for the dining hall, she spun around and made a beeline for the vending machines. Her official "Amelia's assistant" status was both a gift and a curse. The curse coming in the form of a key to the lab. She loved having free reign of the lab wherever she wanted, which was basically every waking minute of the day. And since she spent all her free time in the lab, she didn't pay too much attention to time in general, especially meal time. This would be her third day in a row of having to unwrap her dinner and eat it on the way back to her dorm. Trying to find some semblance of nutrition, she scanned her options and settled on punching in the codes that would sate her angry stomach with beef jerky, two granola bars, a bag of dried apricots and Cheetos. With neon orange fingers and a quieted belly, she locked up the lab and trekked back to her room.

The walk back to her dorm was a bit longer than she remembered. And lacking a proper meal, it was a bit harder, too. If the walk alone had winded her, she couldn't even manage to think about the three flights of stairs she would have to climb before getting back. As she walked, she decided that studying would happen tomorrow, while sleep would be her main objective tonight.

Surprising even herself at one point, Lauren was able to, albeit barely, climb the three flights of stairs necessary to get to her room. As she trudged down the hallway, she could see someone passed out in middle of the floor. Getting closer to her room and this sleeping mass of inconsiderate jackass, Lauren came to an abrupt stop. As luck would have it, this loser had to be slumped against her door. This wasn't the first time that some stupid first year got drunk and passed out in front of her door. It was one of the inconveniences of being the end of the hallway, close to the shared bathroom. From what she could see, this husky imbecile had at least managed to keep the contents of his stomach where it belonged. The last loser couldn't hold his liquor and managed to make her room all but inhabitable until the smell of bile and tequila faded a week later.

Lauren didn't want to give this guy a chance to hang out any longer and potentially ruin her evening, or carpet. Steeling her face, Lauren walked briskly toward the sleeping stranger and literally kicked him in the ass. "Hey, rush week or not, you need to go. It has been a long day and I need some sleep."

Feeling the hard shell top of Lauren's high-top converse sneakers, the sleeping mass began to stir. It groaned and let out a barely audible or coherent apology. Surprised that this jerk wasn't acting like a complete jerk and had the decency to apologize, Lauren's voice slightly softened and she offered to help out. "Do you need me to call your roommate or someone to come get you and help you back to wherever you belong?"

"No need," replied a raspy voice. "She's the one who managed to find your room number for me, since I never actually got your phone number."

Clearly Lauren had been too quick to remove the label of jerk. In fact, given that response, Lauren was regretting not kicking this creep harder or in a more debilitating place. Having no clue where this freaking encounter could go, Lauren began running through a quick inventory of everything in her bag. Given its contents and a strong swing, it should be heavy enough to destabilize the intruder should he make any sudden movements. Knocking him off balance would give her time to run for the stairs and down to the main lobby where the security guard was stationed. As luck would have it, her long, lanky legs could take the stairs two or three at a time giving her a distinct advantage. The key to this plan was the element of surprise. She didn't want to alert this scofflaw to her intentions and give him time to avert her swing.

She began to slowly remove her backpack straps from her shoulders while she spoke cautiously to the now stirring mass of dark sweat clothes. "Listen, I don't know who you are or what reason you would have for wanting to find me, but I really don't want any trouble, so if you could just…"

Before Lauren could finish, the ominous stranger rolled over to expose half opened eyes with wisps of brown hair sticking out from beneath a black sweatshirt that read, "Foiled Again."

"Bo, what the hell? You scared me half to death!" Lauren exclaimed with a mixture of shock and relief. Her shoulders hunched over as she felt the tension begin seeping from her body. She dropped her backpack and leaned against the wall for added support. After a few deep breaths, she sent another kick square in Bo's ass with the side of her foot.

"What was that for?" Bo asked half smiling.

"Seriously, I thought you were a stalker or something. I was ready to kick your ass if you made any sudden movements," Lauren responded, still propped against the wall.

"Haha, you were going to kick my ass!?" Bo laughed. "You and what army?"

Slightly offended by the implication that she couldn't take Bo in a fight, Lauren pushed herself off the wall and put her hands firmly on her hips. "I will have you know that I was in JROTC in high school." That would show Bo.

"Like army training?" Bo asked with genuine interest.

"Navy," Lauren haughtily answered.

"Hoo-rawr. That is semper awesome, captain." There was an evident tone of flirtation in her voice that didn't go unnoticed by Lauren.

"Uh, no. None of those are right," Lauren could feel her cheeks flushing. She reached to grab her bag and began rifling through the front pocket for her dorm keys. As her fingers nimbly combed through the plethora of writing materials, paper clips, post its and other distractions, it was obvious that Bo's coy flirtation had an effect on Lauren. The slight hint of butterflies in in her chest made it hard for her to focus on what she was searching for in her bag in the first place.

Bo rolled over and propped herself up against Lauren's door. "You know, I didn't mean to scare you. I went by the lab and saw that it was locked, so I asked Kenzi if she could find your dorm room."

"So, what did you need from me?" Lauren asked trying to sound as natural as possible. This was no small feat for her. It had been at least a month since she last saw Bo, and while she was able to stay busy, seeing Bo now, so close to her bed...room stirred up all the feelings she had resolved to repress since their "celebration."

"I just got back from traveling and wanted to say hi. I also am not planning on leaving until I get your phone number," Bo said. "I figure it would be easier to schedule tutoring without the middle man," she hastily added after awkwardly realizing that showing up at midnight to her tutor's dorm room asking for her number was absurd on so many levels.

"So, you figured midnight was the best time to wonder over here?" Lauren asked with no real need for the answer.

"Whoa, I did not come over here at midnight!" Bo said, feigning offense. "Some people have poor time management and stay in their labs or wherever until midnight, but that doesn't mean I just got here."

Lauren crouched down next to Bo and asked, "So how long have you been waiting?"

Bo tucked both hands behind her head and closed her eyes. "Long enough."

"I know that you wouldn't have come here and waited for me just to say hi and ask about tutoring. Remember, my IQ registers somewhere between genius and 'not an idiot', so let's go. This hallway smells like a drunken locker room anyway." Lauren stood up and extended a hand to help pull Bo to her feet, too. As she made it to her feet, she held on to Lauren's hand for a split second longer than necessary. Immediately, the butterflies in Lauren's chest multiplied and spread to every corner of her body. Lauren unlocked her door and she hesitated for a moment, afraid that letting Bo in her room would make it impossible for her to maintain her professional decorum. She couldn't every well turn her away now, so she would just have to be careful inside.

Upon entering the room, Bo let out a loud chuckle. This dorm room was the perfect expression of everything Lauren. She had a periodic table of elements poster covering the far wall of her tiny little single room, just above her bed. Along the other wall she had two white boards with different notes and atomic structures. The other wall bordering the hallway housed a meticulously ordered closet with clothes arranged by color. And the wall directly across from that one had windows half the length of the wall, with a heating register making up the remaining distance to the floor.

As Bo took in all the Lauren-esque additions to the room, Lauren pulled out her desk chair and offered it to Bo. "Have a seat" she said. As Bo sat down, Lauren sat down on her bed. Remembering her resolution to maintain professionalism during their interactions, Lauren sat upright and gave Bo her undivided attention.

"Bo, I am all ears," she started.

"Lauren, I'm really sorry I creeped you out earlier. I honestly came by because I really wanted to be away from my teammates," Bo started.

"What happened?" Lauren asked.

"Well, the tournaments didn't go so well these past few weeks. The first week was actually pretty brilliant. I won individual honors and team honors. The problems started right after that. I got knocked out of individual competition in the second round of each competition. I cost the sabre team first place in the first two, and was pulled before team competition at the last one. It was horrible," Bo continued, starting to choke up as a few tears escaped her eyes and streamed down her face. "Needless to say, I let the team down, and they weren't all that shy in showing their disappointment in me."

Lauren felt her heart ache as Bo sat in front of her. Not sure what she could do to help, she tried to allay her sadness. "I'm so sorry to hear about the tournament. It sounds like an unbelievably stressful month, and to not have the support of your teammates would make it feel unbearable, I could imagine. Do you know what happened?"

"My coach says she saw 'nothing behind the eyes,'" Bo answered.

"What does that mean?" Lauren inquired.

"She said I wasn't present. I didn't have that fire in my eyes," Bo offered up, with a tone that implied more disappointment with herself than even the coach probably felt.

As Bo continued to sit with her eyes downcast, Lauren again felt that familiar urge to wrap Bo in her arms, but this time, it was to console her and remind her how amazing she truly was. Instead she offered words of encouragement, "I have no idea what happened this past month, but I know that everyone is allowed to be off their game sometimes. You are an incredible fencer and this loss doesn't detract from your skill with a sabre. If we discounted everyone who stumbled on the road to meeting unrealistic expectations, this world would be a pathetic place. There would be no theory of relativity because Einstein failed primary school. No one would have bothered to reconsider the Higgs boson because the theory was written off decades ago. And Machiavelli would never make a footnote in history because we wrote everything from exile, although maybe he doesn't resonate as much. Let's look at Shakespeare. Most of his wide spread acclaim came posthumously." As Lauren took a breath, scanning her mental catalogues for more commonplace examples of initial failures, her mind suddenly went completely blank. All Lauren could manage to think about was the fact that Bo had just rested her hand on Lauren's now very shaky knee.

"Thank you," Bo whispered as her hand gently caressed Lauren's leg. "I wonder, do you ever have off days because always seem to have everything together."

"Not one off day,ever," Lauren said with a straight face. "I always _start _studying for my midterms at midnight and reek of slim jims and cheetos."

Bo laughed as she rolled the chair closer to Lauren and placed both hands on the sides of her confidante's thighs. Lauren tried to laugh at her own joke, too, but it came out more awkward than amused. It didn't help that as Bo's hands rested on her thighs, her laugh crackled at the end like she was a fifteen year old boy whose voice was changing.

Trying to diffuse the sudden tension, not only in her body, but also growing between them, Lauren gave a quick nod of acknowledgement before standing up and walking toward her desk. She started nervously fumbling papers to make it seem like she had a reason for walking away from Bo. Well, to be fair, she did have a reason, but she couldn't very well tell Bo about the butterflies, so instead, she offered up, "Well, if you need obscure examples from history, you know where to find me now. I think I even have a short article on Einstein somewhere over here if you want it."

Lauren stood at her desk for a few more seconds before turning around to meet Bo's eyes. "You probably don't want the article do you?"

Bo gave a sweet smile at Lauren before looking back down at her hands. Lauren could tell that Bo had something she wanted to share and thought it best to be clear about where she felt they needed to stand with each other. Lauren couldn't ruin her job or lab time for a pretty face. Even if that pretty face was attached to a gorgeous body and a heart of gold.

"Listen," Lauren began again. "I feel like this might be a good time to talk about _this_," as she motioned back and forth between them.

"Tutoring you is awesome and I love the fact that I get to see a genuine side of you when we are studying. Honestly, I can't deny how happy I am that you sought me out to talk about things not going well with your team, but I need to be clear that this friendship has to still maintain asymptotic boundaries. In short, certain lines can't be crossed. I don't want you to think that because we are friends that you don't have to work hard and show up to our sessions." Lauren finished talking and stood looking at Bo. Reading Bo's face was always a challenge for her, and as they both sat quietly, she grew uneasy not knowing what was going in Bo's head.

Thankfully Lauren didn't have to wait long to find out what was going on under the dark hoodie and brunette layers. "Is that what's going on? And what happened at the Dal?" Bo's inflection was surprisingly monotone and Lauren couldn't decide if she had offended Bo or if it was just taking Bo some time to really process the newly articulated friendship dynamic.

Lauren rubbed the back of her neck before answering. "Yeah, more or less that's what was happening at the Dal. I didn't want you to think that because I was starting to," Lauren caught herself about to say something completely irrelevant and in stark contrast to what she had just told Bo moments ago. She started again, "I didn't want you to think that because we were friends that we didn't have work to do. And tonight I was trying to be clear that we can totally be acquaintances or friends or drinking buddies even, but not be at the expense of tutoring."

Bo gave a silent nod of understanding, as she slowly stood up from the desk chair. "I agree. We can be cool, so long as we are able to maintain tutoring and I stay eligible." After a slight pause, Bo continued, "So it is getting pretty late and I have a long walk ahead of me. I need to be going. "

"Where are you headed?" Lauren inquired.

"I actually live off campus, and since the buses stopped running, I have to walk a few miles."

"In the middle of the night? That sounds crazy," Lauren said with genuine concern. "I can't let you hike all over campus at whatever time it is in the morning. Something could happen."

Bo shrugged her shoulders and took a few steps toward the door, "It is really okay, I don't mind. I may speak softly, but I carry a big metal stick, and I figure I can hail a cab when I get closer to town."

Lauren, concerned with Bo's safety and the fact that her spirits still seemed pretty down, couldn't let her leave like this. "Well, since you don't have said metal stick with you, and you look half asleep right now, take your shoes off and get in the bed." Lauren stood up and motioned for Bo to get in her bed.

"Ok, so normally I don't sleepover on the first date," Bo winked at Lauren as she let out a big yawn. "But since I question my ability to get home, I may have to take you up on that offer, so long as you sleep in the bed. God knows I can fall asleep on the floor with no trouble," she laughed.

Lauren insisted. "Take the bed. I actually have a few things to finish up before I sleep. I have midterms to study for." She gave Bo a gentle push toward the bed and saw her resistance quickly melt away as she sank on top of the comforter.

Lauren turned back to the door, locked it and flicked the lights off so Bo could fall asleep easier. The light from the window was enough for her to feel her way towards her desk and turn on her personal lamp.

As she pulled the chair back to the desk and grabbed a seat, she heard Bo mumble something.

"What was that?" Lauren turned around and asked as Bo fought to keep her eyes open.

"Orion," Bo said groggily, "was my bedtime story. Trick told me about his sword. And so I got one, too."

"Huh," Lauren mused as she looked up at the glow-in-the-dark stars that adorned her ceiling. The first night she had arrived at school felt so foreign and unfamiliar. So to make her dorm feel like home, she bought a pack of stickers and mapped the entire night sky on the ceiling. Stargazing was the perfect way to fall asleep, even if they were just stickers.

Apparently Lauren wasn't the only one who fell asleep to stars. Bo had fallen asleep at the opposite end of the bed, right under Orion and found it even in her semiconscious state. Lauren smirked as Bo's breathing evened out and she drifted to sleep.

With heavy eyelids, Lauren reached across her desk to check the digital clock on the window ledge. She wasn't sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not, as her mind registered 3am. Realizing that any continued work tonight would do more harm than good, Lauren made her way from her desk to the shared bathroom two doors down.

As Lauren stood under the bright fluorescent lights on the bathroom, she figured it was late enough that she could forgo her nightly routine of brushing, flossing and rinsing with mouthwash. She grabbed her towel and slowly trudged back to her room. Then she relocked the door, peeled off her pants and sweater and unconsciously went to crawl into bed. As she lifted the covers, she felt the comforter shift and remembered her sleepover guest. Too tired to think about her options, she grabbed the comforter and pulled it with her onto the floor. She was asleep before the comforter hit the ground.

"Holy shit! What is that?" Bo shouted. What sounded like a fire alarm, mixed with a car alarm, had jarred her out of a rather pleasant dream involving a lab coat and Jacuzzi.

Bo knew it had to be a warning because there would be no other reason for such a horrible sound, but the fact that she had just woken up meant that her brain would take three times as long to catch up with her surroundings. She leaned over and tried to shake Lauren awake. Her brain would have to circle back around and explain how she ended up on the ground when she knew she was in the bed last night.

Freaking out, she gave Lauren a forceful shake after her first three attempts to lightly jostle her awake failed. The most recent attempt had managed to elicit an angry grunt as Lauren rolled away from her and placed the pillow over her head. Lauren mumbled something under the pillow and managed to point to the blinking clock on her desk.

Finally gathering her bearings, Bo crawled over the now comatose Lauren and managed to unplug the screaming alarm. That must be how Lauren managed to get a single; if she had a roommate who had to endure that every day, Lauren would probably have to use her Navy defense skills on a regular basis to fend off a sleep deprived roommate. Now wide awake, Bo made her way back to Lauren's bed and sat down. It was pretty obvious she wasn't going to go back to sleep right away, and just sat for a moment staring at Lauren's sleeping figure.

There was no question that Bo wanted to be with Lauren, and not just physically. She wanted much more than that; Lauren was one of the only people with whom Bo felt a genuine connection. She truly listened to Bo and respected when she wanted to talk and when she didn't. Bo couldn't remember a time before now when she felt more at home in her own skin. She never felt bad that she wasn't meeting Lauren's expectations because Lauren didn't have any for her. There was no pretense between them. Too bad every time Bo got close, Lauren would panic and run away. And as Bo thought about it more, she couldn't understand how Lauren was genuinely concerned that their closeness would affect her work study. After all, being more than friends would pretty much guarantee that Bo wouldn't miss a session. Bo smirked to her, "Maybe Lauren's right. Studying feels all but impossible when she's around as it is." Her mind drifted back to foggy images of the dream she didn't get to finish thanks to Lauren's alarm.

So what were they supposed to do? Just act like there was nothing there? Make stupid boundaries and ignore the fact that when they were around each other, their bodies were naturally drawn together? Bo couldn't even count how many times she had to take a step back or stop herself from reaching out to wrap Lauren in her arms.

Knowing that neither of them was in a place to make sense of what was _really_ going on between them, Bo gave up trying and decided it was time to head back to her apartment. Even though it was clear that Lauren could sleep anywhere and through anything, she would probably be more comfortable in her own bed. So Bo crawled over to her and coaxed her sleeping figure close so she could put her in bed under the covers. Surprised that Lauren was only wearing underwear and a tank top, Bo had to stop herself from running her fingers along Lauren's slender, tone legs. Next, Bo turned and grabbed the comforter and placed it on top of her. She had remembered being cold last night, which was probably why she ended up on the ground wrapped up next to Lauren. As she smoothed out the material, she reached across a sleeping Lauren to tuck the edge in between the wall and bed frame.

As she leaned farther, she felt Lauren shift under the covers. Afraid she might have woken the sleeping beauty, Bo looked down. She was met with Lauren's half open eyes groggily trying to focus on her face.

"Hey, sorry. Go back to sleep. I was just tucking you in," Bo whispered, her mouth just a few inches from Lauren's face.

"Ok," Lauren responded half asleep. As she moved to roll over and back to sleep, she extended both arms and clumsily wrapped them around Bo's neck. She pulled Bo in closer and slid over to make room for her in the bed. Pretty sure Lauren was asleep as she did all of the, Bo eased herself down onto the bed and let Lauren pull her in tightly against her body. Bo was glad that sleeping Lauren wasn't so uptight about whom they were becoming to each other. It was nice to feel Lauren holding her so naturally. Content with this little bit of comfort, Bo drifted back to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

**Thanks for the feedback! I have actually started to change the trajectory of the story given the positive response. Sorry this chapter is short. **

Feeling warm sunshine on her face, Lauren started to move under her comforter slowly trying to wake up. She was definitely not a morning person and was in no rush to open her eyes and start her day. Although, she had to admit that this particular morning felt different than most. Her sleep had been amazingly restful and very refreshing. And now with the warm sun and warm body next to her, this had to be one of her favorite mornings. After registering that last source of warm, her eyes shot open as her body froze.

She remembered everything from the night before up until she took off her clothes and went to bed. But she couldn't have gone to sleep in the bed because Bo was sleeping there. And she clearly remembered grabbing the comforter so that she could sleep on the ground, right? She felt her veins turn icy with anxiety. Had her feelings betrayed her in her sleep? Did she actually crawl into bed with Bo in just her underwear and tank top? All she could think in her head at this point was, " Why make boundaries if I honestly can't even maintain them?"

As this thought repeated over and over in her mind she sat motionless, afraid of what would happen next.

"Hey, are you finally awake, sleepyhead?" Bo's voice whispered inches away from Lauren's ear. "Your breathing changed, so you're either awake, or you have sleep apnea," she giggled. "And considered how hard you slept this morning, the latter is a very real concern."

Feigning like she was still half asleep, Lauren let out a grumble followed by a fake yawn and rolled over to face Bo. "How did you sleep?" she asked, trying to make small talk and avoid the obvious elephant in the room.

"Great, until your alarm went off," Bo said with mock derision as her eyes fluttered open. "After that, I moved you to the bed and accidentally fell back asleep."

Great, so Lauren didn't climb into bed with Bo on purpose.

"Anyway, thanks for being a friend last night. I really should be getting back so Kenzi won't worry," Bo offered up as she sat up in bed and moved to swing her legs over the side so her feet were on the floor. As Bo stood up and made her way to the door, Lauren subtly tried to pull the comforter up to her neck in an effort to hide any hint of exposed skin. "I was wondering if you wanted to meet me at the Dal later on tonight. I could use a break from my team, and I owe Trick a visit after being gone so long. He told me to bring you along."

Remembering their stupid boundaries, Bo hastily added, "He wants to check in and hear your thoughts on my schedule for next semester. I was thinking about taking another science class."

Lauren smiled and said, "Sure." Little did Bo know that she could have asked for anything and Lauren would have agreed just to get her out of her room so she could freak out in private.

"Cool. Meet you there at 8pm," Bo said as she turned to leave Lauren's room.

After Bo left, Lauren let out a deep exhaled breath. Things with Bo were getting so…problematic. What was it with this woman?

_Exhibit A, _Lauren thought, _I let her stay in my room. No, I made her stay in my bed. And then I end up in my underwear, wrapped in her arms. _

Lauren giggled briefly, realizing that she had had many dreams that started and ended just like last night actually happened. The details of what happened in between were a little different though.

"So what to do?"

She sat staring at her ceiling for several minutes trying to process her feelings for Bo and the undeniable magnetism they had to each other. Lauren couldn't help but admit to herself that their physical bodies were drawn together. Apparently, sleeping Lauren sought out Bo's comfort without hesitation. So why couldn't studious Lauren or tutoring Lauren? Better yet, if Lauren was such a genius, why couldn't she figure out a way to have the best of both worlds? Why couldn't she find a way to have something more with Bo without having to make undue sacrifices?

It seemed like an easy solution was possible. After all, Bo and Lauren were able to figure out their friendship without sacrificing their tutoring relationship. A dating relationship couldn't be that hard. It was something akin to a friendship with certain additional benefits, right.

"What am I doing," Lauren couldn't help asking herself. As she sat up in her bed she felt like she was slowly losing her mind. Was she seriously considering a way to make a relationship work with Bo? Crazier still, was she really trying to make it work? Thankfully, Lauren's stream of consciousness came to an abrupt stop when she remembered that relationships involve two people and decisions could only really be made with both giving consent.

Looking at the time and realizing that she had some serious studying to do, she resolved to table all future internal discussion of dating Bo until they were able to sit down together this evening and share their feelings.

As Lauren got up and made her bead and picked out her clothes for the day, she couldn't help but wear a ridiculously cheesy grin knowing that by the end of the night, Bo might be spending the night in her bed under entirely different circumstances. College was clearly having a bigger impact on Lauren than she ever thought possible.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

It was a quarter to 8pm and Lauren was early to meet up with Bo. She was always rather early to meetings, but this time she made sure to give herself enough time before Bo arrived to relax and get comfortable. Sure, she would be anything but relaxed once she caught sight of Bo, but for now she could at least try and collect herself. She grabbed an open seat at the bar figuring that when Bo arrived they would move to a table.

"Hey, just the genius I wanted to talk to. I will be with you in a minute," Trick shouted as he waved to Lauren and finished taking orders from a group of college students at the opposite end of the bar.

Try as she might, Lauren couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Trick had called her a genius for one, and it was apparent that Lauren had been a regular topic of conversation between Bo and her granddad. All these were telling signs that Bo and Lauren could maybe make this work.

"I'm really glad you're here," Trick said. "I wanted to check in with you and see how Bo was doing." He reached under the bar and grabbed a cold bottle of ale and placed it on a coaster in front of Lauren.

Lauren was definitely excited to catch Trick up, and wanted to use this opportunity to brag about Bo's continuing academic success. Her face beamed as she explained, "Oh, Bo is doing very well. Her aptitude for science is pretty remarkable. And the fact that she plans to pursue another science class is really great. I could see a future in the sciences at the rate of her acquisition."

Lauren reached for the ale in front of her and took a drink. She wanted to give Trick the opportunity to celebrate the success of his granddaughter and ask any questions regarding her course selection or tutoring schedule. Bo had mentioned this morning that he wanted to talk about all those things, so Lauren thought it best to give him a chance to choose their discussion starting point.

Trick's face indicated that he was pleased to hear that Bo was doing well academically, but Lauren could tell that there was some other concern he had about his granddaughter. After taking a deep breath, the old bartender leaned in and placed both elbows on the table. He interlaced fingers and placed them under his chin without saying a word.

"That's nice to hear and to be expected. Her family and I have been pulling out all the stops to maintain her eligibility," he said flatly. "What I really wanted to talk about was her life beyond academics and fencing." His eyes narrowed and his voice softened. "Her coach informed me recently that she has been…_slipping_. This past month was the worst she has ever performed and I would really like to get to the bottom of it."

Lauren sensed his genuine concern and inquired further about Bo's change in behavior. "What do you mean by _slipping_?"

"Well for one thing she threw her individual competition at the second tournament. She stepped out of bounds twice and gave up an easy advantage to her opponent. In all my years I have never seen her step out of bounds," Trick said as he rubbed his chin and stared at a water droplet on the bar top. "And in the third and fourth matches against easy opponents, she was so distracted, she barely stood a chance. Her footwork was off and she fought on the defensive the entire time." Trick paused to grab a rag and wipe up the water droplet on which his eyes had focused while explaining Bo's uncharacteristic behavior.

Completely unprepared for this conversation, Lauren sat in stunned disbelief. Trick was telling a very different story than Bo recounted the night before. "Is that why she was removed from team sabre competition in the last match?" Lauren ventured to ask, already sure she knew the answer.

"Removed?" Trick responded. "More like refused. She flat out refused to compete. She said she needed to take a break from competing because her mind was somewhere else."

This answer came as no surprise to Lauren. Bo had deliberately lied to her about the tournament, which was upsetting, but far more perplexing. Lauren had no vested stake in Bo's performance. Honestly, she really wouldn't have cared if Bo won or lost every match. However, she did care that Bo sounded to be purposefully sabotaging herself and then lying about it. And for what, to spend the night?"

"Hey, did you hear me?" Trick asked as he snapped his fingers in front of Lauren's face.

"Oh, sorry," she replied. "I was just trying to think if I had noticed anything strange happening with her lately."

"I hate to put you in a weird spot, but do you know if she has started dating anyone new or something?" Trick asked as he put the rag back under the bar counter. "I am just trying to make sense of what is going on."

Lauren sat with her eyes downcast afraid that making eye contact would let Trick know that Lauren not only knew something, but that she knew a lot.

"I'm sorry," Trick offered as he reached across the bar and placed a hand on top of Lauren's. "I didn't mean to make you feel awkward or like you have to betray any secrets of Bo's. It's just that the Olympics are not far away, and unless she starts to properly compete, she can kiss her training invitation goodbye."

"Have you had a chance to talk to Bo about what has been going on?" Lauren inquired finally taking the risk to make eye contact with Trick.

"I don't need to," he said shaking his head. "She pulls the same thing every time the stakes are high. She gives up on herself, and then goes looking for a new distraction to numb the pain. The last time that distraction was Anya, but before that she would pick fights at school." Trick trailed off before beginning again. "I was hoping she finally grew out of this childishness, but when she disappeared as soon as she got back it make me think she found another Anya for the night."

"Hey guys, what did I miss?" Bo asked as she walked up to the conversation already in progress between Lauren and Trick.

"Oh, nothing. I was just listening to Lauren talk about her research. I was trying to think if I had any books in the back that would help," Trick replied before Lauren could say anything.

"Well, if you don't mind, I will be stealing her away," Bo said smiling as she grabbed her friend's hand and led her to the back booth they used before.

"So, what's up?" Bo said after they had settled into their seats.

"Good question. I was hoping that you could answer that for me," Lauren said as she leaned forward and placed both elbows on the table. It was clear by her expression that she had something serious to discuss.

"What do you mean? Oh, since earlier today? Well, I was excused from training today and so I just hung out and skimmed the course catalogue to see what classes I wanted to take," Bo said feeling a little uncomfortable with Lauren's intense gaze. "What's going on with you? You are acting a little weird."

"Did you get excused or did you skip practice," Lauren asked bluntly.

"Whoa, where did that come from? And since when did you start caring about my practice schedule," Bo said clearly offended.

"That's not an answer," Lauren tersely responded. "And given what Trick has been telling me, you probably blew off practice."

"Did Trick put you up to this? Did he tell you to start riding my ass about fencing or are you doing that all your own?" Bo spat back and leaned back against the back rest of the booth.

"Trick didn't put me up to anything," Lauren said back as her hands became more animated with each word. "The only thing Trick told me was that you lied to me about the tournaments."

"What does it matter how I lost? I had hoped to hide my epic failure from you. Who cares?" Bo replied as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Apparently you care enough to lie to me about. Which brings us to the root of this discussion-why did you lie to me?" Lauren was trying her best to remain calm and rein in her body language. She didn't want to argue with Bo, but she couldn't help the fact that she was really hurt that everything that happened last night was just Bo's attempt at numbing the pain of losing.

"I told you," Bo said as her voice got louder. "I failed and I didn't want to tell you that I screwed up this weekend."

As Bo's tone increased, Lauren could feel her nerves reaching their breaking point. As if it wasn't bad enough that Bo lied, now she felt offended that Lauren called her out on it. Having enough, Lauren decided to let Bo have it. "Yeah, you screwed up in more ways than one. It must be nice to throw a tournament and then come running to me afterward. Should I be flattered that you chose me or Anya? "

"I'm sorry, are we even talking about the same thing?" Bo asked completely confused. She could have understood that Lauren would be perturbed at finding out that Bo lied to her, but what did Anya have to do with anything?

"Nevermind," Lauren said as she folded her arms across her chest and slumped back into her seat. "I came here with the intention of having a completely different conversation with you, but there's no point now."

"You can't trust me now because of Anya and the stupid tournament?" Bo asked. Lauren's anger felt irrational, which made Bo's frustration all the more uncontrollable. "So you want to know the truth? Ok, I was thinking that I didn't want to be at the tournament when I could have been hanging out in the science lab with you. And, I skipped practice today because I wouldn't have had enough time to shower, get dressed and be here on time. I was tired of you always seeing me in sweatpants."

"What? So it's my fault that you threw the tournament and skipped practice? Better yet, are you just saying this so you can come home with me tonight?" Lauren spat back. Her anger was beyond control at this point, but she didn't care. All she could focus on was the fact that Bo lied and Lauren fell for it. There was clearly nothing genius about her if she let an athlete play her like an idiot.

"Lauren, you know that is not what I meant," Bo said in disbelief that this conversation was taking one dark turn after the next.

"No I don't know that. All I know is that I got caught up in some dumb athlete's college game of bedpost notches," Lauren could feel the tears welling in her eyes and begin cascading down her face.

"It that where this is coming from? You really think I am a 'dumb athlete' and that I lied to you to get in your bed last night?" All the anger and frustration disappeared from Bo's voice. Instead all that remained was an air of pain and sadness. Lauren had managed to hit Bo where it hurt the most.

Lauren didn't respond. She grabbed a napkin and wiped the smeared mascara from her eyes before grabbing her bag in an effort to stand up and leave. Bo anticipated Lauren's move to go, but did nothing to stop her. She just sat in disbelief that Lauren really thought so little of her at this point in their friendship.

As Lauren looked over her shoulder at Bo before leaving, she could see that Bo was genuinely hurt by what she said. As she left Lauren knew that she didn't believe that Bo was dumb or just an athlete, but she wasn't ready to push past her pride and forgive Bo or herself for being so easily duped.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

The alarm had been going off for twenty minutes, but Lauren didn't have the will or energy to get up and turn it off. All she could do was curl up under the covers and silently sob to herself. Eventually she would have to get up and get showered and dressed, but for now, as she did every morning for the past week, she spent the first thirty minutes of her waking hours under the cover in tears.

It had been over a week, but the sting of her fight with Bo hadn't gone away. In fact, it had morphed into a dull ache she felt in the center of her chest. And every time she thought about the awful things she had said in anger, that dull ache made her heart feel like it was going to explode.

Lauren looked at her still blaring alarm clock through teary eyes. It was time for her to get up. Taking a deep breath, she wiped her eyes with the comforter, before pushing it to the floor. She slowly swung one foot and then the other over the side of her bed and grabbed her towel before slipped on her shower shoes and making her way down the hall.

After a cold shower, she returned to her room to get dressed for the day. She needed to get to the lab for a meeting with the research staff to talk about her progress. After that she had two classes to attend, but she had already resolved to skip them like she had done the entire week.

As she got dressed, Lauren caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. In addition to skipping classes, she was also pretty regularly skipping meals. Between the crying and shame of her behavior, she had lost much of her appetite. But the effects of skipping meals were taking a visible toll on her body and she needed to do something about that. She checked the time and was relieved to see that she still had another forty five minutes before lunch was over in the dining hall. She threw on a part of jeans and a sweatshirt, grabbed her bag and headed downstairs for before the doors were locked.

As she walked through the dining hall, she zeroed in on the pasta selection. Carbs were just the thing she needed. Carbs and chocolate and coffee. She managed to load her plate up with spaghetti and sauce, four brownies and one giant cup of coffee. Juggling everything, she made her way back to an open table and began devouring her food. The pasta was just the thing to reenergize her and would provide her necessary energy for the rest of her day, once the coffee got her started. The brownies were a little treat that she decided she needed to savor, so she quickly ate two before wrapping the remaining two up and putting them in her backpack. There was something about the way the dining hall made brownies that made them irresistible. Lauren figured it had something to do with the carbon dioxide levels in the batter.

She finished with her meal and stood up to return her tray to the kitchen and check out the latest edition of the school newspaper. When she grabbed a copy, she instantly felt the dull ache in her chest turn to a sharp stabbing sensation. On the cover of the paper was the latest article on the women's fencing team. Over the weekend the team had an important bout that would "make or break" their season as the paper said. Skimming the article, it looked to Lauren like the team had managed to secure a necessary victory. And more importantly than the team's success, it looked like Bo had a great weekend. She had "deftly handled her sabre like a true Olympic contender and was sure to get an invitation to the training gym if she fenced that way next week." Lauren closed the newspaper and headed to the lab. Seeing Bo's name and hearing about her success added too much to Lauren's already aching heart.

"It looks like Trick was right," Lauren said to herself. "Bo was just using a bad fencing performance to get closer to me, and since it didn't work she is back to regular form." As Lauren continued walking to the lab, she felt her eyes burning hotly as tears filled them then poured down her face. She had never felt so betrayed in her life. She had finally convinced herself that she was ready and able to handle a relationship with Bo only to find out that Bo was just using her as a distraction.

"Everything she said about classes and tutoring and," Lauren stopped walking. She had completely forgotten about tutoring and her work study. A sense of panic washed over her as she thought about what the financial aid office would say when they heard that she lost her tutoring job. There was no way Bo would want her to help with classes after Lauren called her "dumb," and truthfully, Lauren didn't know if she would be able to handle tutoring Bo anymore either. She shook her head and resolved to put off thinking about all things related to Bo until she got official word from the athletic department.

Finding herself at the lab, she went directly to her desk and set to work. Despite everything else in her life feeling chaotic, she was glad that she could push those problems aside and focus on her research. She was pretty sure that a few good hours of research and lab work was just the thing she needed to clear her head and start feeling back to her old self.

And she was right. After eight hours in the lab, her spirits were much brighter. She was able to collect data on the specimens she was in charge of and sent Amelia a quick update letting her know that things were going as planned. Hungry and tired, Lauren grabbed my stuff and headed back to the dorm to eat.

She didn't waste any time in getting back to her dorm because she realized that dinner was going to be over soon. She was thankful that she walked quickly this time because upon getting inside, the staff began putting away the leftover food and closing up service. She hastily grabbed a plate full of spaghetti and brownies and headed back to her room to eat.

As she got to the third floor, she noticed someone sitting slumped over in front of her door. Walking slowly at first, then faster as she got closer she made her way down the hall. By the time she got to her door, her heart was racing. Whoever was there was dressed in dark sweat clothes and appeared to be sleeping. "Bo," Lauren said as she approached the sleeping mass.

She got no response. She bent down closer to the figure and placed her hand on its shoulder. "Hey, Bo, wake up," she said in a loud whisper.

The figure started to stir and slowly rolled over to face Lauren.

"Hey babe, I can be your Bo." The speaker was clearly not Bo, and instead was a random, drunken frat guy with "rush" written all over his face in permanent marker.

"Get lost, loser," Lauren said as she stood up to climb over him and get into her room.

The drunken first year slowly got to his unstable feet and made his way a few more steps down the hallway before stumbling to the ground again and passing out.

Lauren went inside and locked the door. She placed the plateful of food on her desk and crawled back into bed for the rest of the evening.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The new semester had just begun and Lauren was finally back to some semblance of herself. Despite her fifteen pound weight loss and semi permanent residence in Amelia's lab, her physical health was on the road to normalcy. She and the doctor were also making some pretty substantial strides in their research after just a few months of serious focus. While the results would remain inconclusive until they were able to run enough trials, they both saw substantial promise in their initial results. In fact, figuring that the research would take a few more years before it would even register as a blip on the science journals' radars, Amelia offered Lauren a permanent research assistant position for the rest of her time at university. The position wouldn't pay much, but after some sweet talking to almost everyone at the bursar's office, Lauren would be able to use her research assistant position as a substitute for next year's work study. And to make the deal that much sweeter, Amelia had promised a solid recommendation that Lauren knew would all but guarantee her admission to the graduate program of her choosing. All Lauren had to do was make it through the rest of this year and her life would be as close to perfect as she dreamed.

Unfortunately, making it through this year was not without its challenges. Just a week ago, Lauren was notified by email that her services would no longer be required for tutoring Isabeau Dennis. As the athletic director stated in a rather terse email, "Isabeau will be taking a leave of absence this semester. In accordance with the work study agreement, Lauren Lewis must resume her 10 hour assignment at the athletic department immediately." Upon finding out that Bo was stopping out for the semester, Lauren couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt that she had played a role in this decision. And as penance she was back to pushing papers and wasting precious hours of her life each day _immediately. _What could possibly need to be filed with such expediency anyway.

Despite continuing her inane assignment, Lauren had to take heart in the irony of the whole situation. All of her reservations toward becoming anything more than friends with Bo stemmed from her work study exemption, and just as she decided to take a semi-leap of faith and forego those reservations, her work study exemption was revoked. And she was back to having her intelligence insulted daily by the list of menial filing tasks she was required to complete.

As Lauren was just starting hour two of her second work study week back at the athletic pavilion, she found herself stuck rifling through athletic department memos and press releases and filing them by department, year and athlete. She knew it was only a matter of time before she stumbled across news about Bo. And then it happened. At first sight of Bo's name on a press release dated from last week, Lauren's heart dropped to her stomach. As she read the release, Lauren was quite surprised to see that Bo was continuing to fence during her gap semester. And she was doing better than fencing, she was excelling. According to the press release, "the athletic department is happy to congratulate Isabeau Dennis on her invitation to the national training gym, and will hopefully be welcoming her back next semester as an Olympian."

Lauren couldn't believe what she was reading. Bo had managed to salvage her fencing career in the last few weeks and was invited to train and potentially be offered a spot with the national team. The news release included a few quotes from the head coach who said that "Bo was a strong favorite" to make the squad.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed at the bittersweet news of Bo's success, Lauren filed the press release away and excused herself to the restroom. On her walk to the bathroom all she could think was how she had gotten caught up with Bo to begin with. Sure, she was beautiful and intelligent—a dull ache in Lauren's chest offered a sharp pinch below her breastbone at the thought of Bo's intelligence, and how she was so wrong to call her a "dumb athlete." Bo was much more than an athlete and far from dumb. She was caring, thoughtful and a genuinely sincere person. Whenever Lauren would talk, Bo was all ears, despite her lack of interest or understanding of the subject matter. As Lauren replayed conversations about amino acids and peptides, she felt a few loose tears trickled down her face.

Bo was all these amazing things, but she was also a liar. Bo lied about throwing her bouts and was just using her as a "distraction." Lauren hated that word almost as much as she hated the fact that tears burned hot as they streaked down her face. She was still so deeply hurt by what she had discovered about Bo. And despite everything that Lauren did wrong, she wasn't willing to forget or forgive anything that happened. In fact, the only thing she was willing to do was blow off the rest of her work study and go home for the day. The press release had managed to confirm everything that Trick had said before, and rather that sit and search more press releases, Lauren figured that she didn't need to endure that special type of torture. So, she grabbed her bag and headed back to her dorm.

As Lauren got to her dorm, she hiked up the three flights of stairs and made her way to her room. She was tired and just wanted to be alone for a while before grabbing dinner and heading to the lab. But, upon reaching her door, she noticed that it was slightly ajar.

A wave of anxiety made her veins run icy as she tried to remember if she left it unlocked before leaving for classes. Then, she heard a rustling of papers. It was clear that this wasn't her doing, but rather someone else's, who was still inside. Lucky for Lauren that she cut out of work study early and got back before the thief could leave; unlucky for the jerk because he picked her room to rob.

As Lauren slowly pulled the door a little more ajar, she slipped her backpack straps off her back and tiptoed into the doorway. Peeking in, she could see the back of a rather petite person with jet back hair pulled into two high pigtails. The intruder was dressed in a black corset with a pair of Louboutins and tight black leather pants.

Lauren was immediately struck by the trademark red soles of those rather pricey shoes and was perplexed why this scofflaw could afford those shoes, but was robbing her dorm room. Also, why was she wearing a corset? Of all clothing choices, high heels and a corset lacked a certain functionality that presumably would be necessary in quick escapes. So many things about this invasion were just plain wrong, including Lauren's fear that this perpetrator could pose any real harm to her.

She opened her dorm door all the way, dropped her backpack in the entrance and stood with both hands on her hips. "It seems you are a little lost."

The sleekly dressed thief spun around to face Lauren with a stunned look on her face. "Oh shit, Hotpants. You should be at work study. What the hell are you doing here?"

Lauren shot the girl a puzzled look. Where had she heard the name, "hotpants" before? "Start talking," was all she managed to say aloud as her room invader scanned the room for any alternative ways to escape or protect herself.

The girl was clearly surprised that Lauren had caught her in the act of breaking and entering, but after the initial shock was over, the dark haired beauty took a deep breath and took a seat in Lauren's desk chair. "Ok, so you caught me. Clearly my sources in the athletic department aren't what they used to be. Oh, and for the record, these locks only take a credit card to jimmy open, so I would get a laptop lock, you know what I'm sayin?"

"Today isn't the day. Who are you and what are you doing in my room," Lauren said sternly.

"Fair questions. But can you dial down your diesel? Being interrogated by Sarah Connors in the doorway isn't at all what I imagined it would be," the Goth looking intruder quipped.

Lauren's brows creased as she gave this woman a hard look.

"So, the name is Kenzi," the snarky thief offered up to appease Lauren. "I play wingman for the chick with the metal stick, if you get me."

Lauren's hands dropped from her sides as she looked at the ground. Hearing any mention of Bo made the dull ache start to throb. And to have Bo's roommate breaking into her room, perhaps as revenge made Lauren sick to her stomach. "What are you doing here?" she asked hesitantly.

"Interesting question," Kenzi said as she took a spin in Lauren's chair. "You have somehow managed to mess my girl up in a wicked way and I came to find out how and why. For the last month or so, she has been sulking around the crack shack like she took a sabre to her lady-business. Did she, by the way? I don't know how you girls do girls, so if that's part of the game….nevermind don't tell me."

Lauren kept her eyes downcast as Kenzi droned on. "I've tried everything, but can't manage to get her out of this scientifically induced funk."

"I don't understand," Lauren said as she relaxed her body against the doorframe. "I just read a memo from the athletic department that she was invited to train and tryout for a spot on the national team. What could possibly be wrong?"

Kenzi stopped spinning in the chair and stared at Lauren for what seemed like an eternity. "Maybe I got the wrong room because you clearly don't strike me as any type of genius." Kenzi motioned to grab her bag and stand from the chair to leave.

"What does that mean?" Lauren asked offended.

"Seriously? You have no idea what you did to Bo, do you?" Kenzi was floored by how inept Lauren was regarding Bo. "Yeah, she is back in sabre action, but that is all she can manage. She doesn't eat or sleep and she stopped out for the semester."

"Oh, yeah," Lauren said as she folded her arms across her stomach. "Please tell her how sorry I am about the 'dumb athlete' quip. I was just so angry at her, but I didn't mean it. She is extremely intelligent and full of potential."

By the time Lauren had finished and looked up, Kenzi was a few inches from her face. Feeling rather uncomfortable, Lauren tried to avert eye contact with her.

"No seriously, is your IQ close to genius level?" Kenzi asked with all seriousness. "Or are you drunk or high or something because I am not seeing what BoBa's been seeing. Where is the genius, sincerity, compassion? So far I have managed to see the awkward nerd side, but that ain't nothing special." Kenzi turned back to Lauren's desk and continued rambling on to herself about Bo not being herself. "And you think that Bo is hurt because you called her a dumb athlete? Did you she pull her hair, too?"

It was clear that Kenzi was frustrated with the whole situation , and after throwing her hands up in the air and utter something in a seemingly eastern European language, Kenzi tried to squeeze her way past Lauren and leave. Not about to let Kenzi leave without answer some questions, Lauren abruptly stopped her and nudged her back into the room with her surprisingly muscular shoulder. "Damn, girl. You be in the gym or what?" Kenzi shot back as she stumbled into the room.

"What is going on then? Why is Bo sulking around if she didn't really care about that comment?" Lauren pleaded.

"Uh, maybe because you broke her heart and left it shriveling on the floor of the Dal?" Kenzi responded dramatically hitting her palm to her forehead.

"I did what?" Lauren asked in absolute confusion.

"And where do you get off by the way? How dare you tell BoBo that she uses people as distractions? You sound like Susie side piece, Anya," Kenzi said as she remembered her anger and put both hands on her hips.

"What happened with Anya?" Lauren couldn't mask her impatience with Kenzi at this point. It was clear that Kenzi knew more than Lauren could possible know about Bo's history and Kenzi's games were driving her nuts.

"Oh nothing, Anya has been trash talking my girl since she got benched last year. That trainwreck was a stage five clinger and ran interference with Bo's fencing game. After Bo lost two major matches, she had to bench Anya for the season and get back in form," Kenzi prattled on.

"So what happened from there?" Lauren felt like she already knew the answer, but wanted confirmation from Kenzi anyway.

"Anya hoped the first train to Crazytown and started throwing shade all over the Dal. She told everyone, even Trick that Bo was just using her as a side piece," Kenzi responded as she let her arms casually fall from her hips.

"What's a side piece?" For all her genius, Lauren felt like Kenzi might as well have continued in whatever language she used before because Lauren couldn't make any sense of her ramblings.

Kenzi looked blankly at Lauren for a brief second before rolling her eyes and clarifying. "Anya was telling everyone that Bo just wanted to dine and dash, if you get me."

Lauren's face stayed blank. It was clear she wasn't following.

"Clearly the educational system is failing us all in more ways than one," Kenzi said. "Anya told everyone at the Dal that Bo only wanted her for sex. Anya also told Trick that Bo choked in fencing long before they met and that Bo couldn't handle the pressure of the big leagues. All that was a lie because Anya is a dirty, sneaky rat faced harpy." Kenzi had managed to draw each word out painfully long as she explained the situation again to Lauren.

"Wait, so Bo never used Anya? And she told all that to Trick to get back at Bo?" Lauren asked rhetorically as she felt her stomach drop.

"At least you are a quick learner. Bo may break hearts, but never on purpose…unlike some people." Kenzi's comment was not lost on Lauren.

As far as Lauren could tell, Kenzi wasn't lying. She seemed genuinely concerned for Bo, as well as loathe to discuss Anya. And everything she said made sense except for one piece of the puzzle. So what if Bo wasn't using Lauren? That does't negate the fact that Bo lied to Lauren about throwing her matches. Figuring that she had nothing to lose, she might as well ask Kenzi about that, too. "So what happened with those bouts that she threw two months ago or so?"

Kenzi rolled her eyes again and settled back into Lauren's desk chair. Lauren could tell by Kenzi's reaction that every piece of Bo was shrouded in an infinite number of layers. "She didn't exactly throw the tournaments, it was more like she let her guilt get the better of her. She was up against Kyle's little sister and let the pressure eat her alive. After that she was basically done for the week. And then the last one was against Tamsin. I swear that chick is into voodoo or some shit. Every bout with her Bo falls apart. Don't tell anyone, but I saw Trampstamp in the bathroom and she took off her face to reveal this ugly, nefarious monstrosity underneath. Oh, and lastly the third throwaway was because Trampsin gave her a gnarly crack to the ribcage in their war. Bo didn't tell anyone about the pain until I found her in her hotel room wheezing. I took her to the ER and they treated her for two bruised ribs. She healed for a week and was back at it in full form." Kenzi finished recounting Bo's harrowing fencing escapades and looked at Lauren as she stood mouth agape.

"I have no idea what you just said. I have never even heard these names before." Lauren was thoroughly out of the loop when it came to Bo's personal life and couldn't make heads or tails of Kenzi's replay.

"Yeah, Bo doesn't like to talk about them. But I don't mind. Tamsin. Blond hair, blue eyes. Bo's best frenemy. She is nice enough until you put a sword in her hand. Total evil twinner if they looked anything alike. Every battle is a grudge match and Bo psychs herself out a lot," Kenzi offered.

"And Kyle?" Lauren pressed on.

"Ha, now that is a bit tricky. So, Bobolicious used to train with the big boys back home. And Kyle was more than her training partner, if you feel me." Kenzi winked at Lauren trying to convey her deeper meaning.

"Got it. Keep going," Lauren demanded.

"Anyway, I still maintain that the boy was made of glass because he took a hit on the elbow and many things started breaking. His bone. Their relationship. His career. His self respect. Needless to say, he was done for good with sword play. And so when Bo went up against his sister, the guilt rattled her cage. Everything was shot to hell, her footwork; sword work; her twerk work later when we got drinks. Although, I suspect you messed up the twerk work." Kenzi told Lauren.

"Wh..why didn't Trick tell me any of this stuff when I checked in the day after Bo got back?" Lauren asked, stunned by what Kenzi just told her.

"Trick? How would he know what happened, he wasn't there?" Kenzi replied.

"But he told me he saw Bo step out of bounds and watched her throw the matches," Lauren challenged trying to make sense of the whole situation.

"I'm stumped. It was just me and…oh, that sneaky little hobbit faced," Kenzi trailed off as she realized what happened.

"Who? What happened?" Lauren asked, hoping that Kenzi would offer some much needed insight to why Trick was so misinformed.

"I'm on it, Hotpants. Meet me at the Dal in two hours." Kenzi said as she jumped up from the chair and jetted out of Lauren's room.

Alone in her room and barely able to process everything that Kenzi frenetically divulged, Lauren walked to her bed and sat down heavily. She couldn't believe what she had just happened. For many obvious reasons, Kenzi's brash, matter-of-fact speak had Lauren's head in a tailspin. And now, with all this new information, Lauren didn't know what to do. Well, she did know what to do.

Lauren always considered herself to be an intelligent and thoughtful person. She seldom acted on emotion and hardly ever acted out of anger, but she had known for a long time that she had no claim to either of these traits after what happened with Bo. She had let her anger at even the thought of being used get the better of her, and she had taken it out on Bo. And it was long since time to own up to what she did, especially knowing now that she was solely responsible for how things had turned out between them. So she took a deep breath, pulled out her cell and waited.

"Hello?" the voice chimed from the other end of the line.

"Can you forgive me?" was all Lauren could say at first.

"Lauren?" the voice asked.

"Yeah Bo, it's me," she said.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

The sound of Bo's voice made Lauren's heart skip several beats in succession. There was something so warm and comforting about it, but also so mysterious and alluring. Just hearing Bo's voice made the pain in Lauren's chest dissipate ; and it only took two words. After that was mostly Lauren repeating her apology in various iterations, and restrained pleas for Bo to just "say something, anything."

Although the conversation didn't go as planned and ended with Bo hanging up the phone, hearing Bo's voice was more than enough to remind Lauren was she was jeopardizing by letting Bo get away. And even though it was clear that a simple apology would not fix the damage that had been done, it had been a good starting point. Unfortunately, the actual start of Lauren's pursuit of Bo would have to wait. You had to get to the Dal to meet Kenzi and hopefully figure out this whole mess of misinformation.

"You are probably all wondering why I called you here," Kenzi said as she stood in front of Lauren, Trick and a third party that Lauren had never met.

Lauren assumed that he was one of Kenzi's friends, if not her boyfriend given his appearance. He looked like a thin rail dressed in black leather pants that squeaked every time he moved. And if his pants weren't squeaking then he was nervously rubbing his black steel toed combat boots against the wooden floor of Trick's personal office. Even sitting next to him, Lauren could feel his body tense and on edge. She couldn't tell if that is how he normally acted, or if today he was especially uncomfortable.

Lauren laughed to herself as she glanced his direction and saw a number of spikes sticking through his ears, septum and lips. If those weren't enough to make him uncomfortable, she figured despite his very short cropped 'do, the length of hair that covered one of his eyes and looked like lopsided bangs was more than enough to keep him on edge.

"Don't worry, kids. I am not going to hold you in suspense for too long. We are just waiting on.." Kenzi turned to the door as it slowly opened and in walked Bo. "Perfect timing, She-Ra."

The sight of Bo made Lauren's spine immediately straighten as her breath caught. It had been a long time since she had seen Bo and couldn't help but stare. While she was still painfully beautiful, it was clear that Kenzi was right; Bo had been having a rough few weeks. She had lost a small amount of weight, which made Lauren unconsciously pull her cardigan tighter around her body to try and hide the fact that she was considerably thinner, too. But more than her weight, Bo just looked different. She had dark bags under her eyes and her body had lost the abundant confidence that Lauren had immediately noticed upon first meeting Bo. The only way that Lauren could think to describe Bo was that she looked _broken._

After Bo and Lauren held each other's gaze for a few seconds, Bo looked away and walked to her seat next to Trick. Kenzi began from the beginning. "Now that everyone is here, you probably wondered why I called you here."

"Not even a little bit, Love," chimed in the unknown character sitting next to Lauren.

_Hmm, he's British, too,_ Lauren thought to herself.

"Zip it," Kenzi said as she shot him a harsh glare.

"It has occurred to me that we have become a quaint little dysfunctional family," Kenzi said as her voice softened and she looked at the rest of the group. "And just like every dysfunctional family, we have some serious issues. The first thing on the table to figure out this shiznit between Trick and Bo."

"What are you talking about?" Trick asked, confused by her accusation.

"Seriously, Trick? You don't think we have some stuff to figure out?" Bo asked sarcastically as she relaxed in her chair and folded her arms across her chest.

"Absolutely not," Trick replied with reticence.

"Dude, you have to be kidding me. Even I see it," the British interloper offered up.

Trying to referee the impending discussion, Kenzi put both hands up and tried to rein everyone in. "Hold on. Not all at once." After a slight pause she continued, "Bo Diddly, you start."

"Trick, can you just stay out of my personal life?" Bo shouted in frustration.

"What do you mean?" Trick asked in shock. "Clearly I am staying out of your personal life or else you wouldn't be running amuck like your mother used to do."

"You think I run amuck," Bo shot back incredulously. "So what exactly do I do that is so unruly?"

Trick brought his right hand to his forehead and rubbed his browbone. "Don't think I don't know about the list of bodies that you have left in your wake. I can't count the number of waitresses that start their shifts and end up quitting in a week in tears because you haven't returned their calls."

"Is that what this is about?" Bo's voice was quieter but still cross. "You think I am this wild child because I flirt with your waitresses and don't call them back?" Bo paused as she felt her anger boiling at Trick's accusation. "Do you have any idea what my life looks like on a daily basis?"

"Of course I do," Trick retorted.

"Then tell me," Bo challenged.

"I don't need to prove that I know your schedule by heart. You have class and fencing," Trick answereds trying to feign offense when in reality he didn't know Bo's schedule at all.

"Bo, maybe you should dial it down a little bit," Kenzi said as she took a step toward Bo and tried to touch Bo's shoulder.

Bo ignored Kenzi and got to her feet. "5am. I wake up for training," Bo was irate and rattled off her daily schedule by the hour. But when she got to 2pm, her voice caught and she glanced at Lauren before continuing to show Trick where all the problems were. "7pm I eat dinner and from there I have the rest of the night to get work done before bed. And those are on days I am not traveling. So, you tell me when I have time to be this loose cannon that you seem to think I am because the way I see it, I only have time to be your meal ticket." Bo slumped back down in her seat and held her head in her hands.

Lauren just sat with her hands in her lap.

"You're overacting," Trick said in a hushed tone. "Alright, fine. So you don't have time to date them, can you at least find some other distractions that don't work for me and ultimately endanger your livelihood?"

"What is with that word?" Kenzi interrupted. "You sound like Anya. It's like the only three syllable word that chick knows."

"Well, now that you mention it, Anya is one that comes to mind," Trick said looking at Kenzi before looking back at Bo. "I nearly lost my only manager and you almost lost your scholarship because you get so caught up in these girls."

"What are you talking about?" Bo said flatly looking at Trick. "I almost never lost anything."

"Really, what about when you were prepping for junior nationals. You started out with your worst ranking in years. And by the end of everything I had Anya in my office threating to quit because of you," Trick barked at Bo.

"In case you forgot, I ended that tournament seeded number one and finally single," Bo said angrily as she stared into space.

"Hey Trick Daddy, I don't means no disrespect, but Anya is the mayor of batshit Crazyville," Kenzi joked. "She's wanted to be on Bo's stick since before junior nationals; and she's the one who ran all kinds of interference with Bo's practice schedule, which is why her seed bottomed out. After we cut that bitch loose, we were ballin'!"

"That makes no sense. Anya said that she tried to help you and you just used and discarded her," Trick said trying to make sense of this all.

"Perhaps that's where you went wrong, ya tosser," the British man said to himself as he folded his arms across his chest. "Never listen to that nutter, she's right bloody obsessive."

"Uh, thanks Vex," Kenzi said.

"I can't believe you still believe her over me," Bo said meeting Trick's eyes and redirecting attention back to their argument. "I am not mom. You think I'm going to leave a bunch of messes for you to clean up, and so you can't actually see that I handle them myself."

"That's fair, Bo," Trick said with a long sigh. "I made so many mistakes with her and I don't want you to ruin your chances like I let her ruin hers."

"And you think believing Anya is going to save anyone's future. Shoo, you must be sneaking drinks at the bar," Kenzi said to Trick with both hands on her hips.

"And for the record, you aren't my meal ticket," Trick added with a smile to Bo. "I push you because your potential is limitless. You think I told you about Orion every night for fun?" Trick extended a hand and placed it on Bo's knee.

"Alright, now that you two are not completely insane and all is well in this seedy little world of freaks, I must be on my way," Vex said as he got up and sauntered toward the door.

"No so fast, pretty boy," Kenzi said as she moved to stand in his way. "We still have some business to take care of."

"What, me and you?" Vex looked confused.

"I knew something was up with you at the last few matches," Kenzi said accusingly as she stepped toward Vex. "I was wondering why you were so happy after the first few tournaments and offered to treat me to sushi." As Kenzi took another step forward, Vex inched backwards with a slightly scared look on your face.

"Well, I was feeling generous," Vex stammered out.

"Or, you were betting against my girl," Kenzi was pointing a finger into Vex's chest. "And the pay out is higher for an upset, isn't it."

"I don't actually recall," Vex quipped back.

"And then after I had a little sit down with Lo-Lo, I figured you were at it again," Kenzi continued.

"I'm sorry, but where do I come in?" Lauren asked thoroughly confused.

"Simple, Hotpants. Bo was all about your business until something happened that broke you both," Kenzi looked at Lauren but still had a finger in Vex's chest. "You said that Trick told you Bo was using you as a distraction and you two fell out. It was interesting that this happened right before a big tourney where a devastated Bo would have tanked and been wickedly upset."

"Well, that doesn't make sense because she killed it in competition," Vex said.

"True," Kenzi answered as she removed the index finger from Vex's chest and placed it on her lower lip, "which was a total surprise to everyone who knew about Bo's sad face. We figured she going to bomb out and I was happy that she didn't, but you seemed less excited as we watched her whoop ass."

"Well, I was surprised is all," Vex continued to stammer out. He eyes darted between Bo, Trick and Kenzi.

"Vex, no one is an idiot here. You bet against Bo that tourney, didn't you," Kenzi said matter of factly.

Realizing that he was caught, Vex threw his hands in the air. "Alright, so I bet against her. No big deal, that bit me in the ars anyway."

"Why did you bet against me this tourney?" Bo asked, not entirely surprised that Vex did it.

"I just felt like it," Vex snapped back.

"Don't con a con artist," Kenzi interrupted. "The only way for you to bet against Bo bear would be if you knew it was a sure thing. And the only time anything is sure is if you have insider information."

Kenzi paused and waited for her last sentence to sink in. Then she continued, "So the question is- how did Vex know that Bo would be heartbroken and in no position to compete?"

"Don't look at me, I can't stand the little imp," Trick replied as all eyes were on him.

As everyone's eyes slowly shifted to Lauren, she shook her head emphatically. "This is the first time I have even seen this person."

"Don't worry Hotpants, the real culprit is that sneaky betch , Anya," Kenzi said allaying Lauren's fears. "It makes perfect sense. She knew Bo and Lo were getting cozy, and probably lied to Trick about the match to get him to try and talk Lauren out of being in the business of Bo. Why else would everyone use the word distraction so often. And if I seriously hear 'distraction' one more time I'm gonna stick a stiletto through her eyeball."

"Alright, alright. Good job, Defective. So Anya and I pulled some strings and bet against Bo and were going to split the loot. What do you all care about it now," Vex said before making his way to the door.

"Not so fast, Vex," Trick said as he jumped up in hot pursuit.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Kenzi said trailing behind. "Make nice until I get back."

With that, Lauren and Bo were left alone in Trick's office. Neither woman wanted to break the silence in the room. Neither knew what to say or do to try and make things better, so they remained seated with eyes downcast.

After a few minutes, Lauren finally spoke, "I know it doesn't mean much, but you have to know how sorry I am. I wanted us to work so badly, but at the first sign of trouble I got scared and pushed you away. I should have trusted you."

"You should have," Bo interrupted. "Lo, I would never use you or hurt you and leave you."

"I'm sorry," Lauren said as tears started to stream down her face. "But you have to know how scary you are. How scary this is."

"What do you mean?" Bo asked moving one seat over so that she was sitting right beside Lauren.

"Have you seen yourself?" Lauren asked as she laughed through her tears. "You are beautiful and brilliant and thoughtful and intoxicating. Hell, you are an Olympian. I can't compete with that."

Bo reached up to move a wisp of hair from Lauren's face. "Unless you've been hiding a big metal stick in your lab coat, we aren't competing."

Lauren gave Bo a coy smile and wiped the tears from her face.

"Listen, I am so sorry I got caught up in all this gossip with Anya and so forth," Lauren offered. "If and when you forgive me, please know that."

Bo looked at Lauren before rolling her eyes and wrapping her arms around her thin frame. "You are getting off so easy. I can't stay mad at you knowing that Vex and Anya were behind it the whole time."

Maybe we start over again- with a clean slate?" Lauren asked looking up at Bo.

"No," Bo said. After seeing a forlorn look overcome Lauren's face, Bo smiled and continued. "There is no way I am taking BioChem again."

Lauren placed her head on Bo's shoulder and sighed deeply. Bo gently placed her hand on Lauren's chin and pulled her face up so that their lips met.

Lauren pulled away from their tender kiss and looked into Bo's eyes. "Hey," she said, "can I take you out sometime?"

"It's about time you asked me," Bo responded slyly and leaned in to meet Lauren's lips with her own.

Fin


	10. Epilogue

**I have been really surprised by the warm reception this fanfic received. I haven't really put any thought into a sequel, but had actually put some thought into Lauren and Bo's first real date. I hope you all enjoy**

It wasn't like Lauren to change plans without letting Bo know via text message or email or something of the sort. Granted those plans usually consisted of where to study and when to meet at the Dal, but being as how this would officially be their first date, Bo figured Lauren would be on top of plans. Luckily the dark haired athlete didn't mind waiting outside Lauren's dorm room until she arrived, and took the opportunity to crack open her _Cosmic Bodies_ course reader and get through the first few articles. As she started to read, a subtle smile crept across her face. She couldn't believe that Lauren had convinced her to take another science class this semester; and all Lauren had to do was promise to remain her tutor. Bo should have asked for more in retrospect, but she knew she was helpless in the face of Lauren's brown pleading eyes and rational explanations.

And after getting through three articles about the universe's expansion, and an hour sitting on the floor outside Lauren's dorm room with no Lauren, Bo was pretty convinced that now would be her chance to turn the tables and make a few dating demands of her own. As Bo yawned and wiped her fatigued eyes with her trademark "Foiled Again" black fencing sweatshirt, she felt her cellphone vibrate.

She looked at the phone screen, she smiled and answered. "You know that date nights typically include said dating parties going out and actually having alone time; or didn't they teach that in the science lab."

The voice on the other end of the line chuckled and replied, "Dating isn't really a topic of conversation in the nerd cave. We would much rather talk about bacteria cultures and rNA single strands as vehicles to transport recoded DNA."

"Fair enough. Then let me fill you in, we can't do a date night if you don't show up," Bo joked into the phone.

"I know. I know. Something came up at the lab and I got really tied up. I'm so sorry, sweetheart," Lauren confessed in the phone. "I feel so bad."

Bo knew she couldn't even pretend to be mad at Lauren. The budding scientist always got lost in her research and Bo had to admit that that was one of the things she loved about this quirky, brilliant woman. "No worries, babe. Should I continue to wait here, or meet you somewhere else?"

"Actually," Lauren slyly answered, "can you meet me at the gym? I was able to borrow a car and could only park it in lot behind your training space."

"Be there in ten minutes," Bo responded. "Actually, make that five minutes, I just realized I haven't seen you in at least twenty four hours, which feels criminal."

After exchanging good byes, Lauren and Bo hung up with each other. Now that the promise of seeing Lauren was guaranteed depending on how swift of foot she could be , Bo grabbed her course reader, jammed it in her backpack and took off down the stairs.

She arrived at the gym in just over five minutes, which had to be a personal best. Figuring Lauren was waiting in the parking lot, Bo jogged quickly around the side of the building. Upon arriving in the back lot, she noticed that there were no actual cars there. In fact, the entire parking lot had been cleared out of everything. The team trailer that usually carried all their equipment was gone, too. The only thing that still remained was a lone chair with a banged up fencing mask and sabre resting on it.

This set up clearly was not by accident and the thought that something was afoot made Bo both skeptical and giddy with excitement. She casually walked over to the chair that had been placed under a street lamp.

When she got to the lone swivel chair, she picked up the banged up sabre, and as she took the grip in her right hand, she let out a stifled laugh. She quickly put her left hand over her mouth and stared wide-eyed at it. Bo rotated her wrist and peeked under the hilt. Hand still covering her mouth, she sighed and extended her arm in front of her to get a better look. It had been years since she had held her old sabre in her hand. She couldn't even remember the last time she had used it. She had lost it at the Dal when she was still in high school and had sulked over it for months, refusing to compete without it. She remembered telling Trick that "it felt like she was missing a part of her own body." Trick had ignored her and bought another one for her to use, but it didn't have the "Veterans" sticker on the underside of the hilt from the first concert she ever saw live, or matching dents from when she closed the handle in the car door because she was so excited and clumsy after winning her first bout against a seeded competitor. Sure, Bo had learned to live and compete without it, but now seeing this childhood relic left her in shock and awe.

After wiping a lone tear from her eye, Bo turned her attention toward the fencing mask on the chair. It had been the worse for wear and had dents all over the front. As she inspected it further, Bo turned the mask over in her hand and a folded piece of paper fell out. She placed the mask back on the chair and bent down to retrieve the fallen note. She tried to open it with one hand, but when that proved awkward and nearly impossible, she stuck her sword in her left armpit and used both hands to unfold it and read its contents. It simply said, "Lost and Found: In the gym."

Bo's heart fluttered. The handwriting was easy to recognize as Lauren's. Without giving it another thought, Bo quickly dashed toward the front doors to the gym. When she got there, she noticed a single rose taped to one of the five doors. She tried to remember if she had noticed that when she first arrived at the gym, or if it had been a recent addition.

She peeled the tape from the glass door, took the rose and sabre in her left hand and gave the handle a push with her right. She walked into the lobby of the place that had served as her home away from home since being in college. Everything was dark except for the emergency light just over the fire alarm and extinguisher; not that she needed the light. She knew that ten steps to her right was the water fountain; two steps to the right of that was the girls locker room. On the other side of the lobby was the boys' locker room and the equipment training facility. Right in front of her were three sets of double doors that led into a practice gym that smelled like sweat and metal.

She covered the five steps necessary to reach the double doors and pushed one set open. Much to her surprise, the gym was pitch black. No Lauren or sign of any other lost and found artifacts from her past. A puzzled look spread across her face as she just stared into the darkness. "Hmm, not quite sure what to do at this point," Bo said into the ether of the dark gym.

As if on cue, the ceiling of the gym lit up with hundreds of white Christmas lights. As Bo looked up, a familiar gaze that combined both shock and awe overtook her face. There had to be at least twenty strings of Christmas lights laid in a rather intricate lattice pattern overhead. Overcome by how amazing the lighting configuration appeared, Bo just stared up at it with her mouth agape.

She was so entranced by the lights that she didn't even notice that a tall, slender blonde walked into the gym and stood just ten feet away from her.

After a few second of watching Bo look overhead, Lauren broke the silence. "Does that mean you like it?"

Bo could barely tear her eyes away from the ceiling. "This should have taken you all day, but I was just here ninety minutes ago."

"Luckily, I have friends in Russian places," Lauren replied with a subtle smile.

"Kenzi," Bo said aloud realizing that between Lauren and Kenzi nothing would ever be impossible.

As Bo continued to stare at the ceiling, Lauren closed the distance between them. "I'm glad you made it to our date."

Bo snapped out of her trance and looked directly into Lauren's eyes. "I love you" was all Bo could manage to say at first to the beautiful woman standing in front of her. After a few deep breaths, Bo continued. "I really do love you. And I have loved you since I knocked you over in the library."

Bo gently reached both hands up to Lauren's face, but was unable to actually reach her given the sabre stuck under her armpit. Knowing what Bo had intended, Lauren placed both hands on Bo's jawline and pulled her into a gentle, tender kiss. "You were so sure of yourself weren't you," Lauren whispered into the space between their lips before resuming the kiss.

Bo pulled back slightly. "I was. More so than you, I bet," Bo teased back, trying to coax Lauren into sharing some of her feelings.

"Look up again," Lauren said as she looked to the ceiling as Bo's eyes followed her gaze.

"This is when I knew I loved you," Lauren said still staring at the ceiling.

"What do you mean?" Bo asked as she looked at the lights and her brain wracked every moment she had had with Lauren since they met. Nothing involved Christmas lights and the gym.

Looking at Bo's face and noticing that she was trying to think back to when all _this_ happened, Lauren offered up her explanation.

"Do you remember what my note said?" Lauren asked as she leaned into Bo and placed her head on her muscular shoulder. "We lost the moment I fell in love with you and I wanted to get it back," Lauren explained.

"What do you mean we lost it?" Bo asked.

"We lost our first date to rumors and saboteurs and I want it back," Lauren stated very matter of factly.

Bo didn't respond and waited for Lauren to continue.

"You had just shown up on my doorstep after a pretty epic fencing month. I talked to Kenzi and figured you waited about ninety minutes before I got back," Lauren said as she winked at Bo. " After we talked and I forced you to stay over and you curled up in my bed and told me," Lauren continued before Bo interrupted.

"How I got into fencing," Bo finished. A smile peeled across the brunette's face as she looked down at Lauren.

"There is this harshness about you that can be intimidating and overwhelming at times. Everything about your body was made to compete; you are confident and fearless. And that side of you is beautiful. But when you were in my room and you looked up at the ceiling, I got to see this other side to you. You were innocent and awestruck and I could tell that even now, you still want to be a fantastical version of a hero from your childhood. That is when I knew I loved you. You had a purity that belied your ferocity. And when Kenz and I wereat the Dal yesterday, Trick came running from one of the back store rooms with this in hand." Lauren flicked the handle of the sabre Bo was holding.

"Speaking of, I can't believe he found it. I thought it was lost forever." Bo beamed as she looked down at her sword, but didn't adjust it so as not to move Lauren's head from her shoulder.

"When he found it, he told me all about how you refused to fence and cried for days after losing it," Lauren offered. "I asked him if I could return it to you, and he said that would be a great idea. He thought it would be just the thing you needed for this summer. Maybe you can find the fire again and win gold." When Lauren finished, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes so she could just listen to the sound of Bo's heart beat.

"You know it beats for you," Bo whispered into Lauren's ear. "This whole evening is something out of a storybook. You find my sabre, you recreate our first date and turn it into this beautiful motivation to continue to earn your love everyday after this."

The blonde woman smiled to herself as she continued to listen to Bo's heart. "We still have the rest of our date to get through, so don't get mushy on me just yet."

"What do you mean the rest?" Bo asked as she looked down at Lauren. "You can't possibly have more planned."

"I told you, I am recreating the whole date so our next and final stop is falling asleep together under the stars."

"That sounds fantastic! Let's head back to your place, but don't expect to do any sleeping," Bo slyly grinned as she wrapped her free hand around Lauren's midsection and pulled her up so until their lips met.


End file.
